Gut Check With points at a premium, the Ravens will find a way to squeeze by the Giants

Down they went, all those pretty faces, all the fancy offenseswith their genius coordinators. The Rams, the Broncos and theColts--with the No. 1, 2 and 3 offenses, respectively, in theNFL--never got past the wild-card round. The fourth-rated 49ersdidn't even make the playoffs, and the conference championshipgames took care of the Vikings and the Raiders, sitting fifth andsixth.

No Cris Carter and Randy Moss and Robert Smith to quicken thepulses and light up the scoreboard at Super Bowl XXXV. No DaunteCulpepper with his galloping scrambles, or Rich Gannon with histwinkle-toed magic. Gone, all of them gone. The poor devils neverhad a chance. Swept under by the Big D, as in DEE-fense.

It'll be Giants versus Ravens in the Super Bowl of the Uglies.Yards will be bitterly contested. Quarterbacks will get sacked,runners smacked, guys wearing the 50s and 90s will dictate thetempo, or lack of it.

What's that, you say? The Giants gained 518 yards on the Vikingsin their 41-0 NFC title game victory, and Kerry Collins threwfive touchdown passes, establishing this club as an offensiveforce. Oh, sure, but as New York left tackle Lomas Brown, the16-year veteran, said, "I'm not so much in awe of the 41 as I amof the zero. Zero points for Minnesota--with that offense theybrought in here!" A defense-oriented team got hot against a clubthat had been struggling on defense--that explains what the Giantsdid on Sunday.

The Ravens? Bullies of the league. Road warriors. Threepostseason wins, the last two on the road. They should have beentired on Sunday, playing without a bye and coming off a gameagainst the Titans in which the defense was on the field for 81snaps. Tired? Ask the Raiders, who picked up one first down and38 yards in the first half and whose running attack, No. 1 in theleague, finished with 24 yards and an average of 1.4 per rush.

The Super Bowl has traditionally been the showcase for All-Proand budding Hall of Fame quarterbacks. Look at the roster since1990: Joe Montana, Jim Kelly, Troy Aikman, Steve Young, BrettFavre, John Elway, Kurt Warner. Now? Kerry Collins and TrentDilfer, two guys on the mend, both salvaged from the scrap heap.

Looking for stars at the so-called skill positions? You'll findsome willing workers, but no one on either team who got any ProBowl mention. The big names are on the other side of the ball:Ray Lewis, Jessie Armstead, Rod Woodson, Michael Strahan. Neverhas a Super Bowl been so set up for a defensive guy to win theMVP award.

But that's what makes this game so intriguing. A big play onoffense will really be big. A touchdown will be huge. Do you knowwhat the Ravens' record is in games in which they've scored morethan six points? It's 15-0, counting the postseason.

Baltimore doesn't figure to score much against New York, unlessits defense gets on the board a few times. And after theysquelched the Raiders so thoroughly, Ravens defenders admittedthey were quite pleased with the prospect of facing the Giants,whose offense had struggled the week before against Philadelphia.Lional Dalton, one of the six or seven players used soeffectively in Baltimore's defensive-line mix, echoed thesentiments of his teammates when he said, "We feel the Giants aregoing to play right into our hands. We've faced them in thepre-season the last five years, and they play the kind of offensewe like to see. We love a team that tries to pound the ball. Noone's done it to us yet."

Ah, but did he see the NFC Championship Game? No, he admitted.That might change the Ravens' perspective a bit.

Early in the season, Thunder and Lightning was the Giants'trademark--the twin thrusts of Ron Dayne, the team's 253-poundrookie running back, and Tiki Barber, a slasher who put togethera career year. But if you followed that duo through the season,you saw teams load up to stop them, and their numbers hadn't beenimpressive for more than a month. The Vikings figured to dolikewise, bringing their tackling machine, strong safety RobertGriffith, up near the line and defying Collins to beat them.

So New York came out throwing. Four of the first five plays werepasses, and two of them went for scores. The Giants threw on 15of 21 snaps in the first quarter, 34 of 45 by halftime, when thescore was 34-0 and Collins already had a record-breaking day with338 yards and four touchdowns.

Still, the team the Giants will face in Tampa is a lot differentfrom the one they destroyed at Giants Stadium. Two Vikingsdefensive backs were hurt, so when New York lined up withmultiple wideouts, Minnesota was hard pressed to put up a decentnickel defense. When the Vikings had to send out anotherdefensive back, the guy who got the call was Don Morgan, who hadplayed in only two games during the regular season and had beenactivated off the practice squad during the week. Plus,Minnesota's pass rush was nonexistent, a result that could haveearned every one of the Giants' offensive linemen a game ball.

That unit has been the unwritten success story of the year."Going into the season, we didn't know what we had," said linecoach Jim McNally, who has done a terrific job molding a kind ofragtag collection into a formidable unit. "We were just pickingup guys, but they were all hard workers, all very intelligent."

Brown, the 37-year-old left tackle, had been cut by Cleveland."Kind of the end of the line, huh?" he says. Left guard GlennParker had been phased out in Kansas City. Ditto center DustyZiegler in Buffalo. Right guard Ron Stone was the only holdoverat his position, and right tackle Luke Petitgout had flunked histrial on the left side of the line. But the group has beengetting better every week--"kind of like a big surge," Parkersays--and now it's at the top of its game. That's where the realaction will be in the Super Bowl, because the Ravens' defensivefront has been annihilating people.

Baltimore's ability to rotate its linemen has kept all of themfresh. The scheme has been well documented--monster tackles whotie up blockers and clear the lanes for Lewis, the All-Pro middlelinebacker, and pass-rushing ends Rob Burnett and Mike McCrary.Against the Raiders, though, the unexpected push came from theinside, from 340-pound Tony Siragusa and 330-pound Sam Adams, whocollapsed Oakland's line and pushed the pocket into thequarterback's lap, forcing him to hurry his throws.

It's unlikely that the Giants will come out running the ball. Itseems that their best chance is to go with multiple wideouts,force the Ravens into nickel and dime packages and throw earlyand often. A Baltimore attack that hasn't gained 300 yards in anyof its last six games doesn't figure to put much of a dent in NewYork's defense, unless it has the luxury of a short field by wayof turnovers. During the regular season the Ravens led the leaguewith 49 giveaways, and they've collected another seven in thepostseason, including five on Sunday.

The best thing the Giants have going for them is that they'repeaking at the right time, on both sides of the ball. ButBaltimore's defense, which should have been heavy-legged againstOakland and wasn't, will now have an extra week to rest.

The pick: Ravens 16, Giants 13, with turnovers deciding it.

COLOR PHOTO: PHOTOGRAPH BY DAVID E. KLUTHO RAVENOUS Lewis (52) and Siragusa (98) lead a defense that set an NFL record for fewest points allowed in a 16-game season, with 165.COLOR PHOTO: AL TIELEMANS TURNAROUND The Giants will need plays like the interception that cornerback Emmanuel McDaniel (26) made in front of Carter.

The Ravens have won the last 15 times they've scored six or morepoints.